----* In an issue of ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'' from 1984, we get a flashback (-forward?) to ComicBook/RachelSummers' CrapsackWorld of her [[BadFuture Days of Future Past]], where it's revealed that among the other actions to happen in the war against the mutants, someone destroyed the World Trade Center with a bomb (one panel shows the Twin Towers in ruins). Unthinkable in 1986, but cringe-inducing after 1993 and absolutely eerie after 2001. Bear in mind that, if not for ComicBookTime, 2001 would likely be the ''actual year'' that the World Trade Center was destroyed in Rachel's timeline.** Similarly, one issue of ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s own comic book featured an enemy flying a plane into him. While he was standing on top of the World Trade Center.* After [[spoiler:Ozymandias]] detonates his [[spoiler:psychic squid]] in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', an airship can be seen crashed into the side of a New York skyscraper.* ''Franchise/GIJoe'': In an issue of the ''{{Creator/Marvel}}'' ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel series]]'' the Joes go against a Middle-Eastern dictator that commanded an army of radical zealots and was backed by a Terror group. Twenty years later America went to war against several Middle-East countries ruled by dictators backed by zealots with ties to terrorist groups.* On the subject of 9/11, the ''[[ComicBook/TheTransformers Transformers]]'' Creator/MarvelComics featured Galvatron visiting an alternate universe, where New York had been devastated and Rodimus Prime's corpse was strung up between the smoking stumps of the Twin Towers.* More fun with 9/11 in the 1995 Marvel Comics tie-in novel ''ComicBook/SpiderMan: The Octopus Agenda'' by Creator/DianeDuane: the book's climax features Spidey's attempts to foil the plans of Doctor Octopus, who's planted a bomb in the World Trade Center.** There was also the Spider-Man[=/=]''ComicBook/XForce'' crossover where {{the Juggernaut}} destroyed one of the twin towers in the course of his brawl with the heroes.* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'':** In ''ComicBook/ActionComics #275'', Supergirl dreams that Superman never turned up and she lived her cousin's life. In ''ComicBook/ElseworldsFinestSupergirlAndBatgirl'', written 37 years after, Superman never turned up and Supergirl was world's greatest hero... because [[spoiler:Lex Luthor found Kal-El's rocket and murdered the baby]].** ''ComicBook/DemonSpawn'' stated that Kara had an internal death wish. It was written by Marv Wolfman, who fourteen years later wrote ''ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths'' #7, where Supergirl made an HeroicSacrifice to save TheMultiverse.** [[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pScx8BN4h3s/S_PJXGpxHGI/AAAAAAAAIYY/hesshogulz8/s1600/adv+383.jpg The cover]] of ''Adventure Comics #383'' (1969) has Supergirl turned into a ghost and trapped in an alternate universe where no one knows she's alive... Flash-forward to the Post-Crisis universe where no one remembers Kara Zor-El ever existed and she's merely an invisible spirit (until the appearance of the Post-Crisis Supergirl).* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':** 9/11 times four: An issue sent Franchise/TheDCU into a panic, when the [=LexCorp=] Towers (Metropolis' version of the Twin Towers) were shown to be in a state of near total collapse after being hit by an alien spaceship. [[http://911blogger.com/node/19407 The day that comic was due to hit newstands? September 12, 2001]]. DC assured retailers that they would be allowed a no-fault return for the issue, given the situation, and encouraged them to make use of it. Few, apparently, did.** It's worse than that the issue, taking place after a global invasion, had several pictures of buildings in ruins... Near the picture of the [=LexCorp=] building was one of the ACTUAL twin towers, with blast holes at roughly the SAME place as where the planes had hit in real life!* But topping them all would have to be ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns'' by Creator/FrankMiller. Published in 1986, the story involves [[spoiler:Two-Face plotting to blow up "The Twin Towers" in Gotham. Luckily, he's stopped by Batman.]] Shortly thereafter, [[spoiler:an electromagnetic pulse caused by the detonation of a powerful nuclear warhead in the western hemisphere knocks out all power to seemingly the entirety of America. A 747 then falls out of the sky and crashes into the Twin Towers, blowing them up and [[FromBadToWorse setting all of Gotham on fire]].]]* A 1995 ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' arc had Dredd travel back in time to prevent an alien disease from spreading. To do this, he had to blow up a plane...over New York...in 2001. The twin towers are visible in the background as the plane crashes into the river. The scene was even on the front cover with the caption "Airport 2001".** In a one-off story from 1978, a criminal demonstrates his power by causing the World Trade Center to collapse. Ouch.* ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'' features a pedophile priest. Already creepy at the time, it takes on a whole new layer of uncomfortableness with the Catholic child molestation scandals that have broken out since. There have been accusations for centuries, which probably inspired the character, but they really hit broad public awareness in TheNineties.* The scenes in ''[[ComicBook/XMen Uncanny X-Men]]'' #101 where the space shuttle breaks up on re-entry and crashes in New York and the similar sequence from the 1990s' ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'' were intended to be merely dramatic when they were created, but some find it difficult to watch them without thinking of the Columbia tragedy. The ''Spider-Man'' episode is the most similar to the real disaster, which makes it REALLY creepy.* An in-universe example [[spoiler:(or [[TheMultiverse in-multiverse]], anyway)]] from an issue of the early 80's Marvel ''Franchise/StarTrek'' comic, where the Enterprise is on a mission to help evacuate [[EarthShatteringKaboom a world that's about to die]]:-->[[spoiler:'''Kirk''': But, these people will have lost their '''world'''! '''Imagine''' how they ''feel''!\\'''Spock''': Captain...at times like this I am most thankful that a Vulcan '''cannot'''!]]** Two decades later, in the [[Film/StarTrek 2009 film]]...* One ComicBook/WonderWoman comic had a fake newspaper on its cover with headlines proclaiming Wonder Woman's death and referred to her as Princess Diana. Guess who died a week later.* There's a late 70's issue of Marvel Two-In-One where the World Trade Center catches fire.* The Batman storyline ''A Lonely Place of Dying'' has a scene where Two-Face almost decides to blow up the twin towers just to piss the dark knight off. This is made worse by Bruce Wayne simultaneously considering holding a massive charity event there to provoke him into attacking.* Another 9/11 one: ''The Big Book Of TheSeventies'' (published in 2000) had a section on the rise of terrorism, which ended with the first WTC bombing.* One ''ComicBook/NintendoComicsSystem'' issue from 1990 had an establishing shot of the Twin Towers with a dark cloud looming above.* On the penultimate pages of ''ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}}'', Spider Jerusalem puts a cigarette in his mouth for OneLastSmoke, draws a handgun, puts it under his chin, and it turns out to be a lighter. Sad part? Three years later, Spider's inspiration, Creator/HunterSThompson, did the exact same thing...[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompson#Death except the gun was real.]]* One of the very first ''ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesMirage'' comics had the bad guy threatening to collapse the Twin Towers if he wasn't paid a ransom of thousand of dollars. A new re-print, which had a note at the very edge of the paper ''"(Remember this comic was released a long time before 9/11)"''* An in-universe example for the MarvelUniverse. One issue of the late 90s ComicBook/CaptainAmerica comic had Cap foiling a plot by a Skrull to impersonate him and cause widespread chaos in the United States. What does he say upon defeating the Skrull?:-->'''Cap''': Next time, take over a planet without ''me'' on it.** Cue 2008's Secret Invasion, in which the Skrulls do take over the planet without Cap on it, as he had been supposedly dead at the time.* In ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'', mutants are more discriminated than ever before and can be held without a trial even if they didn't do anything wrong, and you can even legally kill them. At the time when it was written, it was meant to show how Comicbook/UltimateMarvel is different from Earth-616. And then the National Defense Authorization Act came.* The ChooseYourOwnAdventure Role-Playing Game ''You Are Maggie Thatcher'' was a CharacterExaggeration of the much-reviled prime minister, and yet the whole thing did not look all too implausible in real life. For example, one of the options was to privatize the police force, which David Cameron actually proposed years later.* An in-universe one DC one: Issues #20-#21 of the New Teen Titans comic (May-June 1986). The Titans were (temporarily) mostly broken up after incidents involving or happening roughly around the time of ComicBook/CrisisOnInfiniteEarths. Wonder Girl, who is left in charge with an empty nest, calls in Aqualad, a newly-minted Flash, a Hawk without Dove, Jason-Robin and Speedy. At the request of King Faraday, they help to protect a peace conference which is being threatened by Cheshire. This was where it was discovered Speedy and Cheshire [[spoiler:had a child together]]. Issue #21 closes on some supposed to be heart-warming reconciliations between Terry Long and Wonder Girl and also Speedy and Cheshire, including him getting to hold his daughter for the first time. Also, Wally getting to explain his new role as The Flash to his hero-avoidant then-girlfriend Francis Kane. Now, look at these events through the lens of:** Speedy and Wally West still apparently have strong feelings for [[spoiler:Wonder Girl, well after their teen romance fizzled]] according to later comics. Oh and Lian is killed when Prometheus destroys Star City and chops off Speedy's arm too.** King Faraday [[spoiler:being the (possibly mind-controlled) villain, Gamemaster]].** Wally-Flash [[spoiler:being erased from existence by Barry Allen as a result of Flashpoint, made worse by the fact that when fighting a deranged Reverse Flash (who had a breakdown and literally thought of himself as Barry Allen) cursing Wally and leaving him to die out of anger over how everyone loved Wally more as Flash and was furious at how fast he was forgotten]]** Jason Todd being the voice of reason among his older, more experienced peers and [[spoiler: then not receiving a statue in the memorial hall upon his death for this and the work to free Raven as if they were embarrassed.]]** Having Speedy, Wonder Girl and Flash return to Cheshire, Terry Long and Francis Kane with the idea that this is a relief to them. [[spoiler:All three of these couples later go nuclear, one of them literally.]]** Having Hank Hall (Hawk) be a nearly-murderous bastard as a hero, when later [[spoiler:he becomes the JSA villain Extant, who slaughtered half of the team.]]* Batman's origin story will now qualify as such. In most mediums, his parents were shot by Joe Chill outside of a movie theater (or in the case of Film/TheDarkKnightSaga, an opera theater). Let's just say there are roughly 7 times as many Martha and Thomas Waynes dead now after the showing of ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', when the premiere at Aurora Colorado had a madman shooting and killing as many as 14 people as they were leaving the premiere.** Simliar to the aforementioned scenes in ''Comicbook/TheDarkKnightReturns'' involving Gotham's Twin Tower, a scene in ''Returns'' featured a gunman shooting people at a movie theater.* In the only Captain Electron comic, the titular hero is called to rush to Manhattan while in the middle of a separate "computer science" mission. When he arrives in New York, he finds a plane...buried halfway in the Chrysler Building.* ComicBook/TheAvengers 111, 1973. Magneto had captured the X-Men and several Avengers, turning them into PeoplePuppets. Only 3 Avengers were still free, Thor, Vision and Black Panther. So sure about his [[IAmLegion strenght in numbers]] over the Avengers, and with the Scarlet Witch dancing under his control, he said [[http://www.collectededitions.com/marvel/mm/xmen/images/AVEN111002_col.jpg "But they are decimated, Piper - DECIMATED!"]] (bolded in the original). He would surely come to regret those words: in ComicBook/HouseOfM the Scarlet Witch, mad and with reality warping powers, turned all mutants except 192 into normal people without powers, including Magneto. The name of the near-extinction of mutants? "Decimation". ** There's also the fact he had Wanda dancing for his amusement; given her choice of outfits and the way everyone used to react to her, this was probably for his own tiltilation. Bare in mind, a few years later, Magneto would discover that Wanda is, in fact, ''his [[{{Squick}} daughter]]''.* InUniverse example: The 2002 ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' storyline ''Death in the Family'' has a scene where Spidey walks in on the Green Goblin using dolls to re-create the death of Gwen Stacy ''Film/{{Spaceballs}}''-style while implying that Gwen was on the bridge because she was sexually attracted to Norman Osborn. Later, the 2004 storyline ''Past Sins'' revealed that Gwen did indeed sleep with Osborn before her death, resulting in twins Gabriel and Sarah.* The Marvel Civil War was painfully cringe-worthy to begin with. Now, let's just say that it starts with a disturbed individual attacking an elementary school in Connecticut and leave it at that.* In the last issue of Creator/BrianKVaughan's run on ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'', the entire creative team wonders what will happen with the characters in the next ten years. One of the comments mentioned they'll probably be all dead. Near the team's tenth anniversary, two of the characters are in [[ComicBook/AvengersArena book dedicated solely to killing teenage superheroes]].** And then came ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'', where Earth-616 was destroyed, and so far, from the Runaways, only Nico and Molly have been confirmed to have survived.** The arc that introduces Victor has Nico vowing to rip his damn heart out if it ever appears that he's going to become [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Victorious]]. [[ComicBook/TheVision2015 Fast forward to 2016]], where Victor is murdered by Virginia Vision, who rips his heart out after he accidentally kills her son. His last thought is that at least he never became Victorious.*** And then the third issue of the new Runaways has [[spoiler:Chase accidentally activating Victorious during an attempt to revive Victor.]]* The 1990-91 ''ComicBook/{{Foolkiller}}'' limited series climaxed during the summer of 1991 around the same time that Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested and his long killing spree revealed. Although readers knew who the Foolkiller was all the time, this is when the general public and his former friends and acquaintances learn of his identity on the news.* The end of ''ComicBook/KickAss'' Volume 1, where Chris sets up his AvengingTheVillain story-line by quoting ComicBook/TheJoker, with volume 2 crossing the MoralEventHorizon by [[spoiler:causing a mass shoot-out in a suburban area]]. The Aurora Theater shootings make this uncomfortable to some. The fact that he started with [[spoiler:a group of children]] makes it [[FromBadToWorse even worse after the Newtown shootings]]. * ''ComicBook/ElvisShrugged'': In the story, the record business has collapsed due to so many quality musicians leaving, causing record sales to plummet. This was published in 1993, prior to [[TechnologyMarchesOn the debut of the World Wide Web]] and, later, the rise of [=Napster=] and [=iTunes=], which would cause the sales of actual [=CDs=] to plummet, not due to a significant change in what was popular, but because it was easier and cheaper. * In issue 24 of ComicBook/JusticeLeagueInternational, the amusing storyline was about getting Martian Manhunter to quit his addiction on Oreos. To do this, he separated the embodiment of those desires from his body which then jumped from member to member of the team to reveal their darkest desires in an amusing way. Then the craving embodiment lands on Maxwell Lord, who then proclaims that he wants everyone to do what he says all the time.... yeah. It kind of explains why he went off the deep end prior to ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis years before the storyline was even made.* ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFiendshipIsMagic'':** Celestia calling Sombra "a Unicorn whose heart was as black as night" in Season 3. He's a LivingShadow made by an EldritchAbomination crystal to rule the Empire via ThePowerOfHate, and after years of failing to ScrewDestiny by doing good, he finally snaps and invokes ThenLetMeBeEvil.** Everything about Princess Luna's guilt over Nightmare Moon now that we see [[AndIMustScream what she did to her subjects]] and how she plagued ponykind with horrible nightmare for ''1000 years''. This was all ''before'' ''[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E13DoPrincessesDreamOfMagicSheep Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?]]'' revealed that her guilt was far, ''far'' worse then anything fans predicted.* The ending to the ''ComicBook/AdventureTimeGraphicNovels Volume 1: Playing With Fire'' has Finn and Flame Princess confessing their love towards one another, even sharing a kiss like they are a happy couple. Cue ''[[WesternAnimation/AdventureTime Frost & Fire]]'' where Finn TookALevelInJerkass and through his manipulations and some predictions, [[spoiler: Finn and Flame Princess broke up]] and Finn has since became estranged from her as a result.* May 6-7, 2016 were not good days for [[spoiler:ComicBook/WarMachine]] in any medium. The former saw the release of ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', which [[spoiler:saw he crippled following a stray blast from ComicBook/TheVision damaging his armor]] and the latter saw the release of the Free Comic Book Day special that kick starts ''ComicBook/CivilWarII'' [[spoiler:with his death by ComicBook/{{Thanos}} being what set things off.]]* ''ComicBook/CataclysmTheUltimatesLastStand'' features the heroes of the ''ComicBook/UltimateMarvel'' universe trying to stop Galactus after he appeared in their universe following the events of ''ComicBook/AgeOfUltron'' and a plot point shows [[spoiler: Ultimate!Reed Richards seeing his mainstream counterpart's daughter, resolving to save the world.]] What caused the story to fall into this trope of the double whammy of [[spoiler: Ultimate!Reed going right back around and resuming being a villain and and the events of ''ComicBook/SecretWars2015'', which would see the destruction of the Ultimate Universe, meaning the heroes only delayed the inevitable.]]* A major subplot of ''ComicBook/DarkVictory'' was [[TheDon Carmine Falcone]]'s son, Mario, trying to reform the family and legitimize it. Several comics before ''ComicBook/{{New 52}}'' followed up on his fate after the miniseries and revealed that after his breakdown at the end, he became the new head of the Falcone family, becoming every bit the criminal his father and sister were.* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_shooting_of_Dallas_police_officers Dallas sniper attack]] occurred while ''Nighthawk'' Vol. 2 was in the midst of a storyline involving a black psychotic who was killing whites for crimes against blacks. The second issue (released about two weeks before the shooting) ended with the murderer setting his sights on the police after hearing a newscast about a white officer who was found not guilty of killing an unarmed black youth.* Issue #7 of ''ComicBook/PaperGirls'' (published in July 2016, just months before the US Presidential Election that year) features a discussion as to whether or not UsefulNotes/HillaryClinton --a woman-- could be elected president in modern-day America. Flash forward to November... she wasn't elected.* Part of Creator/ChaosComics character Chastity's backstory was being molested as a child by her father. Justiniano, the artist for ''Theatre of Pain'', the miniseries that detailed her backstory, was arrested for possession of child pornography.* ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'':** All those stories from the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s in which the heroes use super-hypnosis and magic rings and so on to alter the villains' minds or remove knowledge of their secret identities from others read very differently given the revelations of this series. So does Doctor Light's time as an IneffectualSympatheticVillain.** ''Justice League of America'' volume 1, #122 gets hit especially hard: it's a story that explains how the Leaguers decided to reveal their identities to one another, after Doctor Light uses "Amnesium" to scramble their knowledge of their alter egos, learn their secrets, and nearly kill them all. In the end, Light is mindwiped with the Amnesium to remove his ill-gotten knowledge. The story's title? "The Great Identity Crisis."** An earlier event, the more nostalgic ''Silver Age'' series of "skip week" specials, also has a group of villains learning the Justice Leaguers' secrets... and in the end, Hawkman uses some Thanagarian technology to remove this knowledge from their minds, with the sanction of Superman and Batman. The whole thing is played as a ResetButton style happy ending. ''The Silver Age: Justice League'' chapter also contains a scene in which Doctor Light rejects Catwoman's advances, stating that he "has always been more interested in test tubes and Bunsen burners than the fairer sex."** The whole reveal that [[spoiler:Dr. Light raped Sue, given that Jeremy Piven, who voiced the Elongated Man in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'', has been accused of sexual assault.]]* ''ComicBook/BatmanAndCaptainAmerica'' has an famous moment where the ComicBook/TheJoker terminates his alliance with the ComicBook/RedSkull upon learning the Skull wasn't faking being a Nazi (the trope image of EvenEvilHasStandards). [[spoiler:Naturally, after the Skull caused a CosmicRetcon to turn Steve into everything he's sworn to fought against in ''ComicBook/CaptainAmericaSteveRogers'' and ''ComicBook/SecretEmpire'', fans took to pointing out that, until the latter's end saw the return of the true Steve Rogers, Marvel's paragon had less morals that the man who [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke crippled Barbara Gordon, tortured Commissioner Gordon]], and killed [[ComicBook/ADeathInTheFamily Jason Todd]] and [[ComicBook/BatmanNoMansLand Sarah Essen]].]]* ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'':** Back in the early [[TheNineties nineties]], one of the most famous songs by Italian band 883[[note]]that now, by the way, is no more since its lead singer is now pursuing a solo career[[/note]] was titled "Hanno Ucciso L'Uomo Ragno", which is Italian for ''"They Killed Spider-Man"''. [[TearJerker Fast-forward by twenty-years-or-so.]]** In "Cats and Queens", the focus of MJ's story was her wanting to run away from home so she and Peter could be married, with him saying he'll always be there for her. Also in the same arc, Black Cat tells him he'll have seven years bad luck. This was in 2004...*** Similarly, every time the subject of sex came up between Peter and MJ, they resolve to "wait until they're older".** At July 2005's ''San Diego Comic Con'', in response to the question the [[ComicBook/SpiderMen Ultimate & 616 universes]] crossing over, Creator/JoeQuesada stated that he'd rather close down one universe than have them cross over because it meant they were officially out of ideas. Fast forward to 2012, and Marvel announced that they will be having 616!Peter crossing over to the Ultimate universe to meet Miles.** Every discussion anyone ever has about Peter's future now that we know his [[KilledOffForReal eventual fate]]. And then shot to pieces after the reveal that [[spoiler:he came back to life.]]** Early in 2003, the original Venom arc was published, which revealed in the Ultimate universe, the Venom suit was originally developed as a means to cure cancer. Fall of the same year, Paul Jenkins's first arc on the second volume of ''Spectacular Spider-Man'' revealed that one of the reasons the Venom symbiote was drawn to mainline!Eddie was because he had cancer.----